SEMJA Clinics at the 2001 Ford Detroit Jazz Festival
SEMJA sponsors and helps organize the clinics
at the Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival again this year.
The clinics have been moved from the river side of Hart Plaza to the
Kowalski Jefferson Avenue Jam Academy Stage. Attending the clinics is
always a joy for young players and for anyone interested in jazz improvisation.
Please come by the SEMJA table at the Kowalski Jam Academy Stage to
meet and greet. Below is a list of this year's clinicians.
ERNIE
RODGERS (Aug, 31, 5:30 pm) moved to Detroit in 1947
from Monroe. He had started on the clarinet in his hometown and once
in Detroit he changed to the alto saxophone. Rodgers studied saxophone
under the world-renowned musician and educator Larry Teal, and he received
degrees from Wayne State University and Eastern Michigan University.
Rodgers has performed with many top jazz performers, including. Sammy
Davis Jr., Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones,
and Wynton Marsalis. In Detroit, his parents started the legendary Rapa
House, an after-hours performance space for Detroit musicians. He is
the leader of three Rapa House bands varying in size from 6 to 18 pieces.
His career as an educator began at Miller Middle School and continued
at Northwestern High School where he founded the school’s Jazz
Ensemble. His former students include saxophonist James Carter and bassists
Ralphe Armstrong and Marion Hayden. He is currently teaching in the
Jazz Studies Program at Wayne State University.
TEDDY HARRIS
(Sept. 1, 2:30 pm) is a Detroit pianist, saxophonist, composer, arranger,
and educator. He was brought up under the tutelage of his father, a
pianist and organist. In the fifties he was a student of Detroit’s
prime jazz pianist/educator, Barry Harris. He also attended the New
England Conservatory of Music and studied composition in Paris with
Nadia Boulanger. On his return to these shores in 1962, he joined Motown
as a studio musician. He soon moved up in the organization as an arranger,
conductor, and musical director. He traveled with the Motown Review
and for sixteen years was the Musical Director of the Supremes. Since
1983 he has headed the New Breed Bebop Society Orchestra, which has
served as a big band training ground for many Detroit players. Some
of the alumni include Geri Allen, James Carter, and Greg Phillengaines.
The Orchestra plays regularly on Monday nights at Baker’s Keyboard
Lounge in Detroit. Harris has been the recipient of numerous awards,
including being named a Midwest Jazz Master in 1993, the Detroit Music
Awards Jazz Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Governor’s Michigan Artist
Award in 1995.
ALMA
SMITH (Sept. 2, 2:30 pm). grew up in Detroit and took
lessons from the legendary Detroit pianist Milt Buckner. In her teens
she played with Lucky Thompson, Wardell Gray and other local stars in
the making. After graduating from Cass Tech she went on the road with
Counts and the Countess trio, which included a long stint in California.
She returned to Detroit and played with Rudy Rutherford, but eventually
went back on the road. In the 1960s she added the organ to the piano
and the vibraphone and played with Lou Rawls and others. Smith was given
the Legends of Jazz International award in 1995. In recent years she
has worked with her own quintet, trio and duo in clubs and recordings.
She is also a prolific composer and an effective jazz educator in area
schools.
JACK
PIERSON (Sept. 3, 2:30 pm) is the President of the
International Association of Jazz Educators in Michigan. He also was
formerly Executive Director of the Michigan School Band and Orchestra
Association.. He was educated at Ohio University and has a teaching
career stretching back into the late 1950s. He was Director and founder
of the Jazz Studies program at Henry Ford Community College and made
the first visit to the Montreux Festival in Switzerland in 1973. He
has also taught in area high schools, as well as Schoolcraft College,
Interlochen, and the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. His former advanced improvisation
students include young lions tenorist Rick Margitza and bassist Bob
Hurst.
I
N - T H I S -
I S S U E :
1. BEFORE MOTOWN
- 2. JOE HENDERSON, HAROLD McKINNEY-
- 3. FORD DETROIT JAZZ FESTIVAL-
- 4. SEMJA CLINICS- -5. AROUND TOWN
HOME
